An Objective Measure Of Holiness? (part 2) - [Malachi 3:7-12]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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Well, this morning I get to talk about my favorite subject in all the world. That is,

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Jesus Christ, Him crucified and raised from the dead. You know, if you understand

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Jesus, what He did and what He said, you can look through that lens of Christ and His teaching to basically help you with every issue in life.

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So you say, well, I'd like help with marriage. How do I think about marriage properly? It's through the lens of Jesus, the groom, and the bride,

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Christ. You say, I'd like to learn more about parenting. What does Jesus say about parenting? I'd like to learn more about ministry.

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It's looking through the lens of Jesus and how He ministered for the Father's glory. And the same thing is true when it comes to stewardship, that is, your money.

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If you see Jesus properly, what He did, who He is, and what

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He talked about, you'll get the idea of sacrificial giving. According to one man's research, the

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Bible has 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 verses on faith, but over 2 ,000 verses dealing with money and possessions.

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It's been said that Jesus talked more about money than any other subject. Out of 38 parables, 16 deal with money management.

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One out of every 10 verses in the Gospels, according to Rod Rogers, has to do with money, our possessions, 288 verses.

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And the Bible talks more in the New Testament about money than it does heaven and hell combined. So today we're going to talk about who

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Jesus is so we can think about money properly. Remember last week

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I asked you, how do you measure your spirituality? How do you know if you're growing?

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Remember when you were a kid, I used to pray that I would be 6 '4", could be a basketball player, point guard, maybe 6 '6",

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George Gervin, Magic Johnson, some of those guys. Anybody know who they are? Some don't.

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Okay. I guess if they don't wear green, it doesn't mean anything to you. And you say, you know, am

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I growing? And you look and you say, yes, son, you're growing, yes, daughter, you're growing because we marked it here four months ago, and yes,

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I'm growing. But how do you know if you're growing when you're a Christian? Are there barometers, are there measuring points, are there objective criteria?

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And of course, in the book of Malachi, the answer for them was, yes, you can know if you're growing and maturing by how you give to the

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Lord. It's tangible, it's measurable, there's a science to it, as it were.

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You know, you think to yourself, well, am I drifting in my Christian life? If you are, giving is one of the first things that goes.

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And you can say to yourself, well, I've got these college loans to pay off, I've got this emergency to pay off.

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And you begin to rationalize why you don't give when you're starting to drift. I don't like the way the church spends the money, and it could be a hundred different things.

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And so today, I want to remind you through the lens of Jesus, His person, His work, and His teaching, three easy words to remember so you can think rightly about giving.

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Let's turn our Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 8 for our first word, that is grace, and it's just a reminder where we were last week.

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As you know, we've been in Malachi, and in a sense, we still are. God was giving them a wake -up call to wake up spiritually, and they were holding back their offerings, they were holding back their worship, and God said,

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I want you to return, I want you to repent, and the first thing I want you to do is stop robbing God Israel, and I want you to give your tithes and offerings.

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Will man rob God, yet you're robbing me? You say, how have we robbed you in your tithes and contributions?

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And so God points to this example, this neon light example of, we can tell you're drifting

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Israel because you're cutting corners when it comes to giving. I said it last week, and I'll say it this week as well.

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I don't like to talk about giving at all, but the Bible talks regularly about giving.

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As a matter of fact, Randy Alcorn said, why did Jesus put such an emphasis on money and possessions?

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Because there's a fundamental connection between our spiritual lives and how we think about and handle money.

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We may try to divorce our faith and our finances, but God sees them as inseparable.

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Or Kent Hughes, God can have our money and not have our hearts, but he cannot have our hearts without having our money.

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And there's something about our kind of church, I mean, we don't want to be the Creflo Dollars and the

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Benny Hinns and the Begathon kind of people. And so for me, on bad days

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I think I really want to look good in your eyes, and so I'm the pastor that doesn't talk about money. I mean, when we get together in a men's discipleship group, how do we talk with men's groups and women's groups?

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How's your marriage, how's your prayer life, are your eyes wandering on the internet?

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But do our men's groups, do our ladies' groups ever say, do we ever have the gall to say, how's your sacrificial giving?

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We just don't talk that way. Very interesting. But it's related to your spirituality.

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Now let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 8, and the first word we're going to think about today that's in review from last week is the word grace.

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And so if you think of the word grace, it will help you when it comes to money.

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I want to be a faithful steward. While I might personally want to look good and say, yeah, I'm the guy that never talks about money, it's better for me to say

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I want to be a faithful steward and to proclaim the whole counsel of God. And as Malachi was dealing with Israel and their financial issues, now what about us under New Testament exhortations for giving?

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We're not under the Old Testament tithe and Levitical tithe and all that. So how do we give?

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What are the words for us that would help us give? And the first one is grace. And we saw last week, 2 Corinthians 8, 1, instead of law,

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Old Testament law, the word is characterized by grace. We want you to know, brothers, 2

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Corinthians 8, 1, about the grace of God, that means money, by the way, there, that has been given among the churches of Macedonia.

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For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

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They gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord.

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Instead of Paul begging them for money, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.

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And this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, and then by the will of God to us.

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Accordingly, we urge Titus that he had, as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace.

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But as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you excel in this act of grace also, giving.

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I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.

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And now, here's the tie -in to the gospel, for you know the grace of our

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Lord Jesus. Now, he's not talking about the act of grace giving. He's talking about the grace of Jesus. In what way?

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That though he was rich, obviously not financially, yet for your sake, he became poor so that you, by his poverty, might become rich.

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When you see that Jesus Christ gave everything, that he graced us by...

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The text is actually talking about the incarnation, right? That he was the eternal God in eternity past with the

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Father and with the Son, and he decides to cloak himself with humanity as an act of grace.

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And he gave everything. By the way, he didn't say in eternity past. You know what? I think

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I can probably save these humans, my bride, the elect, with about 10 % of what

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I am and who I am. And I'll just give 10%. I'll kind of tithe who I am as I rescue people.

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No, he gave himself wholly unto the Father and unto every person who would ever believe.

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The Father sent the Son and the Son gave himself. He gave everything.

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For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son. So what did we talk about last week? That when you understand

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Old Testament law for Israel, for New Testament Christians, you should understand all giving is according to grace.

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Saying to ourselves how Jesus gave, that's how we should give. He gives everything.

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He doesn't hold anything back. God doesn't need our money. It's a response to the gospel.

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It's like David Livingston who said, in Africa, I place no value on anything

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I have or possess except in relation to the kingdom of God. If anything will advance the interest of the kingdom, it shall be given away or kept only as by giving or keeping it.

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I shall most promote the glory of God to whom I owe all my hopes in time and eternity.

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And so in one sense, you could test yourself like Oswald Chambers says, not by what you give but what you keep.

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What do you give unto the Lord but what do you really keep for yourself? And so when you want to think to yourself,

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I want a number. Remember, we talked about this last week. What's my number for giving? And what did I tell you last week?

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If you need a number, you're a math person, you're like, I just need to know so I can write the check off the top. Here's the number, 100%.

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Because as the text said, they gave themselves, all of themselves first to the

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Lord, verse 5. Jesus gave 100 % of himself. Jesus gave an eternity past to come in the incarnation and on the cross as well.

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And so if God owns you all, then giving becomes much easier. Show me a person not sold out to the creator and I'll show you a person who struggles with sacrificial giving.

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Show me a Christian who's wholly devoted to the Lord and I'll show you a person who thinks rightly about money.

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Okay, so that's in review. Here we go. Number two, three words that will help you when it comes to giving in the

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New Testament era. Number one, grace. Number two, regeneration.

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Let's turn to Luke chapter 19. Luke 19, regeneration.

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Jesus links, he puts a chain around the gospel and giving as a response to eternal life, giving.

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Now, how many people know Zacchaeus, the story? How many people ever preached Zacchaeus? How many people ever sang the song

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Zacchaeus was a wee little man? See, now we all know. And you know, it's a nice little cute story. There's lots of things going on in Luke and it's intense and Jesus is on his way to the cross.

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And so for a little comic relief, we have that wee little man. Is that what's happening? By the way,

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I sang the song again yesterday, not in front of anybody. And the song's pretty good when it comes to the data.

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But what about the theological import? And I'm going to tell you up front, show me someone who is epitomized by self, that is the unbeliever.

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I mean, we've been there, haven't we? Everything's for ourselves. We loved ourselves with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

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We only loved our neighbor when they could do something for us. The chief end of us was to glorify ourselves and enjoy ourselves forever.

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I mean, we were all about self and pride and idolatry. And then when God saved you, of course, not perfectly yet, but he said, you know what?

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You're a brand new person. You have new affections. You're a new creature in Christ Jesus. You're regenerate.

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You're a new you. You had other affections, didn't you? What you used to hate, now you love.

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And what you used to love, you now hate. You're different. If you're not different, then you're not a

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Christian, both by status, justification, and by the way you act.

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And Jesus ties in eternal life. If this man has received eternal life, it affects his checkbook.

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How many people sing that song in Zacchaeus? I guess you do that right before the offering, right? How do you know if you're regenerate?

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A test? What do you think about money? Let's go to the passage, Luke 19 verses 1 and following.

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Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and nothing is going to stop him and God is going to continue his mission and that is he saves sinners freely, graciously, wonderfully.

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He entered Jericho, that is Jesus, Luke 19 verse 1. It was passing through.

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By the way, I just have to say one more time, if I have to talk about money, I'd rather talk about Jesus because if I talk about Jesus, then all the money stuff will take care of itself.

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If I have to talk about money, I don't want to give you law, I want to talk about grace. By the way, this paradigm works for everything in your family, everything at your job.

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I'm struggling at work. How do I think about work in light of who Jesus is? And Jesus entered

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Jericho and was passing through. Now, last time we were in Jericho, I went with some of the folks here, the coppers and others, and we bribed our driver to go to Jericho because it's rough.

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And so, you know, speaking of money, we use some of our money to bribe in the

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Lord. And it's dangerous. And so, we went to this common little area downtown.

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It's pretty rough. It reminded me of some kind of Tom Clancy deal, like everybody is going to get me.

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And I said, is this safe? You know, I'm responsible for the coppers and, you know, other people and Lucille.

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I said, well, by the time these people call all their friends to come do some terroristic thing to this bus, we'll be done with lunch.

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Okay. It's good. All right. Let's have a... I was going to say fajita, but that would be wrong.

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Let's have a falafel. Well, when Herod came and he took over Jerusalem, he spruced it up.

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It doesn't take you very much Bible study to figure out when Herod came into town, I mean, he was all for himself and he would build these big complexes and hippodromes and wonderful gardens and they said, you could be walking on the way to Jerusalem and all roads in this particular area would go through Jericho to get to Jerusalem and you could smell the balsa wood and you could smell things that smelled so good.

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Some men called the city, the city of palms. Josephus, the

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Jewish historian called it, quote, a divine region, the fattest in Palestine, dates, palms.

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It was just this great spot to be. But more importantly, it was strategic because like I said, all the roads from that area had to go through Jerusalem to get to Jericho.

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So that made it perfect for what? Taxation. We're going to tax you because you've got to go through this road.

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How do I get from Springfield to Logan? Well, through the

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Mass Pike and you're going to have to pay for that. It was a regional tax center for Rome.

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And Jesus is going through Jericho but he is the sovereign God of the universe and there's a particular man he's going to meet by name in an act of God's initiating sovereign grace.

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And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.

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Now, we're not sure exactly, is Zacchaeus more of a, it is a

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Hebrew name, a derivative of that, meaning pure or righteous. Some say it might be clean or innocent in Greek, but he wasn't that.

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If his name means pure, righteous, clean, he was a scoundrel.

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He was a Jewish person working for Rome, taxing Jews, getting

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Jews money to give back to Rome. I mean, this is traitorous. And he is what kind of tax collector?

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What's the text say? It's only time in the New Testament. A chief tax collector. He's not even the ones dirtying his hands with the shekels.

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He's making his underlings do all that and he just gets to scrape the cream off the top of all the other tax collectors.

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He's rich. The chief tax collectors. Oh boy, this is a person that you would love to hate if you were a fellow

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Jew. And he was seeking to see who

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Jesus was, verse 3. Lots of talk about Jesus. You can just read the first 18 chapters of Luke.

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Things spread quickly about who Jesus was and what he had done. But on the count of a crowd, he could not because he was small in stature.

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So he ran on ahead, climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him. For he, Jesus, was about to pass that way.

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Hey, I want to learn more about this guy. This particular religious leader, instead of ostracizing sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes, this is the guy who even eats with them.

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Here's a guy who says he's a king and he fellowships with people like me. I can read them or you can look with me as well.

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Luke 5, 29. I'm sure Zacchaeus had heard, this is the kind of guy that's coming through town.

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Pharisees and the scribes, verse 30 of chapter 5, grumbled at the disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

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Jesus answered, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

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Jesus is the kind of guy who, he heals people, he can raise people from the dead, and he associates with people like me, sinners, tax collectors.

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Zacchaeus is almost acting like a man who is a child who wants to see, and stemming from chapter 18 that he was talking about, let the children come unto me.

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And he goes and he climbs up in a sycamore tree, only time in the New Testament it's used. There's a derivative of the word used in Luke 17 for a mulberry tree.

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Most people think it's some kind of an oak -like tree, and the branches start low, and you can climb up into those things and see very easily and see, the crowd is pressing in on Jesus.

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There's a lot of crowd around Jesus. And Jesus isn't like a normal royal person who's in a palaquin.

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What's a palaquin? It's not a romance novel, I'll tell you that right now. A palaquin is what?

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A dignitary, a king. You raise up a bed, you raise up a couch, and you carry it on your shoulders with long poles underneath it, because he's not a regular person.

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And so you put him high and lift it up, and you carry him through the town. But here Jesus, the Son of Man, man's representative, he's not high up on some palaquin.

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He's just walking, and everybody's jamming in to see Jesus. And by the way, the text doesn't say it, but I can imagine

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Zacchaeus is saying, A, I'm small, I can't see Jesus, and B, if I get in with the crowd, what would you do if you were

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Jewish and you were in the crowd and nobody could see you, and here's this guy that's shorter than you are, I know what

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I would do if I had some brass knuckles or some elbows. And when

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Jesus came to the place, now read this like you're reading it for the first time, and he looked up and said to him, by the way, he's never met him.

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How do we know his name? Well, Jesus is the omniscient God of the universe. Of course, he knows his name.

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He's in Jericho to save this man, because in the eternity past counsels of God, the

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Father gives Zacchaeus to Jesus, and Jesus is going to save him and die for him. Zacchaeus, I mean, this is masterful.

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Masterful. Hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.

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He calls him by name. He knows his name. Who's in control? Who's the initiator?

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Who's sovereign in his grace? And using some of the same language, so he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

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Now, verse 5 is something called an imperative of divine necessity.

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Do you see it? For I must stay. Used regularly in the New Testament.

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I've got to do this. I must go to the cross. I must stay at your house,

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Zacchaeus. I must remain there with you. You're going to do a lot more than just see me.

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I'm going to probably teach you at your house. And that's not going to happen tomorrow. That's not going to happen next week.

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What's the text say? Today. It's urgent. Must be fulfilled. Sovereignty of God.

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By the way, more than a sovereign hand of God, but a gracious hand of God.

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Hanging out with a sinner like this. Now, for us, you have some dinner with someone.

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It's no big deal. But back in those days, if you were going to have dinner with someone, you would be associating with them.

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You would be one of them. You would share with them. And this is like Jesus is sharing with Zacchaeus his sins.

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Now, on the inside of the house, the text says he received him joyfully. But what's going on on the outside of the house?

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And when they saw it, verse seven, they all grumbled. They all grumbled.

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He has gone in to be the guest of a man who's a sinner. He's gone in to be the guest, not used very often.

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By the way, just an interesting word. It means if you've got a horse or a mule and you unpack everything, that's what it means.

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Unpack an animal, unhitch the animal, get the animal ready for the night, just take everything off of it. Jesus is going to go into Zacchaeus' house.

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He's a guest of a man who's a sinner. And these people grumble. You know the onomatopoetic word for grumble in the

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New Testament, right? The Greek word. Anybody? Charlie? Only took 18 years, but that guy is sharp.

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Thank you. Just kidding. It sounds like what it is. The root word is gangismus. And they're all murmuring.

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He's going to associate with sinners. Hear this guy, he says he's the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

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And he does all these messianic things that Isaiah 29 speaks of, Isaiah 35, Isaiah 53.

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And now we know he's a fraud because he's going to have dinner with a sinner. Now, you say, well, we're all sinners.

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No, this word, sinner here, means someone whose life is characterized by sin.

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You see a drunk and you go, that's a drunkard because their life is summarized by one word. Zacchaeus' life is summarized by one word, a sinner.

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This is not just a sinner like we think, oh yes, I'm a sinner. This is a bad sinner. They're fault finding.

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They don't like it. He's got table fellowship with this guy. He's a partner in crime, literally.

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Calvin, the word sinner is not taken in the ordinary sense, but denotes a man of disgraceful and scandalous life.

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Have we heard from Zacchaeus? Has Zacchaeus said anything yet? Zacchaeus, please speak up. We'd like to know what you would say.

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And now God has come and intercepted Zacchaeus. And now is fellowshipping with him.

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And what's the response of Zacchaeus? What does he say? What's the first recorded word of Zacchaeus?

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Now, remember what's happened in verse seven. Gone in to be the guest of a man who's a sinner.

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Wonder what Zacchaeus says. And Zacchaeus stood. Why is he standing? It's important.

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It's a declaration. I've got to tell everybody. He stood and said to the

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Lord, He recognizes him as God in flesh. He recognizes him as deity. Behold, Lord, the half of my goods

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I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. Friends, God saves him.

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And his initial reaction is, I'm going to increase my quiet time. Okay, that'd be good.

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I'm going to go to temple more often. Remember just in chapter 18,

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Jesus meets the rich young ruler and he says, I know what you worship. It's money. And if you're going to follow me, it's going to cost you everything.

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Sell everything. And essentially, that's what Zacchaeus does here. What does the text say again?

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For a half my goods I give to the poor. And if I've defrauded anyone of anything, do you think he had?

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Yeah. I was teaching a junior high group. I'd say, duh, I will restore it fourfold.

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Interesting. Not I'm going to, I'm just going to take care of it.

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Listen to what Numbers 5 says. Speak to the people of Israel. When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the

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Lord, and that person realizes his guilt, he shall confess his sins that he has committed and shall make full restitution for wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did wrong.

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A fifth. So if you come to your own senses, convicted that you stole something from someone and you go,

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I know I did it. You have to return what you stole and give a fifth.

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But if they catch you stealing Exodus 22, you've got to give fourfold.

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It's better, in other words, to just come and say, Numbers 5, I did it. Here's the fifth extra.

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But if you're caught, you have to give fourfold. And so what does Zacchaeus do? I want to give the most.

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I'm not trying to say what's the least I can repay. I'm repaying everything back. God has changed me on the inside.

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He is Jesus. He is Lord. And I'm going to reimburse generously everyone that I've defrauded.

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And the writer said, Zacchaeus is an example of radical repentance, not of practical wisdom.

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And it is assumed that his response will leave him pretty much in the same financial state required of the rich young.

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How long is it going to take him to pay these people back? And he just says, I've been changed by God.

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I've been given new life. I'm no longer a sinner, but I'm a friend. Salvation's come to the house today.

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And you know what? You can have it all. What I used to worship, I don't worship anymore. And Jesus here is showing us,

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Luke is showing us, the hinge between money and regeneration. Jesus said, verse 9,

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Today, salvation has come to this house, since he is also a son of Abraham. You can just imagine the

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Jews, that Jewish tax collector. He's not a son of Abraham. He's a traitor. He's a terrorist.

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No, you want to know who a real son of Abraham is? It's not just physically, but it's spiritually. And Zacchaeus is one. For the son of man came to seek and save the lost.

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What happened in chapter 18, just before this? Those who heard it, chapter 18, verse 26, then said, who can be saved?

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Why'd they say that? Because how difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a what?

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Needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, verse 25. So how is this possible?

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And what Jesus said is, what is impossible with men is possible with God. God, the son, now saves

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Zacchaeus. And it's not impossible for the rich young ruler to be saved, this particular rich young ruler named

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Zacchaeus, because God saved him. Jesus' mission was to seek and to save the lost, sovereign initiative.

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What is the response to salvation? There are many responses, of course, prayer and a desire for fellowship and a desire for corporate worship and devotions, reading the

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Bible, of course. What Jesus does is when God saves you, you are different when it comes to money.

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That's pretty amazing. You're different when it comes to money.

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You're transformed in your thinking. So I ask the question.

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It's a good question to ask. Is the way I think about money, as a

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Christian, the same way I think about money before I was saved? Because if I think about money the same way before I was saved and now after I'm saved,

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I should ask myself a serious question. And what's that question? How could I be saved? How could

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I be saved if I think about money the exact same way? I used to think about it, me, myself and mine, kind of some unholy trinity.

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And then now I think, you know what? I don't even own any money. It's all God's money and I'm just supposed to be a steward. Saving faith is tied in to money.

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It's a fruit of repentance. You don't get saved by giving money, but you think you are saved and you show evidence of salvation and unmistakable proof by saying, do you know what?

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I'm going to restore. I'm going to take care of these things as an evidence of my conversion. How do

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I think rightly about money? Grace, number one. Regeneration, number two. And finally, number three today.

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Resurrection. Resurrection. Let's turn to Matthew chapter six. Resurrection.

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Next week we'll be back in Malachi. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits?

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Grace, regeneration and resurrection. Okay, I'll ask the question.

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Do you give sacrificially to the Lord? If you don't, of course, there's time to repent and we can all learn and grow.

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But if you don't, do you believe that Jesus was killed, buried and raised from the dead?

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If you believe in the resurrection, it will help you when it comes to giving. If you're a

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Sadducee, you're going to keep it all for yourself. Sadducees don't believe in the resurrection.

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Sadducees were the kind of people that said, he who dies with the most toys, what? Wins. Let's take a look at Matthew chapter six.

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Jesus talking about money. I want to relate everything to money, marriage, parenting, ministry, evangelism, through the lens of who

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Jesus is, because he's not just a substitute. He's a representative and he's the one who lives the life that's always pleasing to the

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Father. He didn't hold anything back. That's how we should think about money. By the way, for those of you who are wondering, am

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I asking for 100 % of your check? No, I'm not one of the 16

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Republican or Democratic or Communistic.

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We have Communists running this year, so I think they want 100%. But the point is, if it's all the

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Lord's, then I can say, you know, I need some for myself and I can serve others with that money. The percentage isn't about money, it's about you.

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Well, Matthew chapter six, what does Jesus say about money? I love to hear Jesus talk about any subject.

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Jesus, what about money? Verse 19 in the

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Sermon on the Mount, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. Present tense, don't keep doing it.

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If you are, stop. Don't store up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal.

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By the way, that's what we did before we were saved. We were the hoarders. Don't do that,

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Jesus says, because if you put all your investments on earth, things happen.

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And the Tao can plunge. He's not saying wealth is an issue.

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He's saying, what owns you? That's the issue. Don't store up treasures in heaven,

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I mean, treasures on earth. Proverbs 23, do not weary yourself to gain wealth. Cease from your consideration of it.

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Verse 20, by the way, when you die, you still live, don't you?

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When you close your eyes that last time. It wasn't that long ago where I saw

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Mark Westcott close his eyes for the last time. And in a sense, when he opened his eyes again,

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I know he doesn't have his resurrection body yet, but the next person he saw was whom? It was

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Jesus himself. What we're doing on earth with money is we're being strategic.

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And if we say it's only earthly investments, we're forgetting that there is a resurrection.

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I'm going to stand before God one day, and I'm going to have investments that are eternal investments, because I've been investing them in the kingdom.

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That's what Jesus is talking about. Verse 20, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Why? There's going to be a resurrection.

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There's an after death where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

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I mean, I'm reading a book now about self -control. It's a secular book, but it's about self -control. And it's about food and money and all kinds of other issues that we don't have any self -control over.

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And so it's like, wait a second, I have to strategically think, I'm going to die one day and then be in heaven with God.

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And I've got to say no now to certain things that I might want so I can treasure up treasure in heaven.

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That's really the goal, treasuring up treasure in heaven. Lay up for yourself, store up for yourselves, working for later.

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What's the psychological thing where they say to a kid in a room, there's some cameras that they can't see.

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And, you know, here's two cinnamon rolls. And if you don't eat either of these cinnamon rolls in 10 minutes, we'll give you another 20 cinnamon rolls.

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But if you eat either of these cinnamon rolls, you don't get another 20. They just cannot stop.

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It's just... And you can see the kids looking around, kind of sniff it, look at it.

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It's like, okay, but I believe in the resurrection. I believe that one day

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I'll stand before God along with you, every other Christian. And then it's going to be what John Gershner was right, be a spiritual capitalist and heap up treasures in heaven.

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I mean, even Peggy Noonan knows it. We are the first generation of man that actually expected to find happiness here on earth.

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And our search for it caused such unhappiness. The reason, if you do not believe in another higher world, if you believe only in the flat material world around you, if you believe that this is your only chance at happiness, if you believe that that's true, then you're not disappointed when the world does not give you good measure of its riches and you're despairing.

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But on the other hand, if you store up treasures in heaven... By the way, look at that word store up. It's where we get the word thesaurus.

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It's a treasure box of words. That's a thesaurus. Here's the treasure box that you're heaping up in heaven.

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Eternally secure. Do I believe in eternal security? Yes. People, right? Perseverance of the saints and with money.

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You heap up treasures in heaven. Moth can't touch it. Rust can't touch it.

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Thieves can't touch it. Nothing can be destroyed. Doing something for the

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Lord can't be destroyed in heaven, even by the destroyer, Satan himself. I don't care if there's kleptomaniacs around.

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That word thieves, they're kleptos. They're trying to steal. They're trying to dig the psalmist.

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He would echo that. Jeremiah would echo that. Treasures in heaven are the rewards

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God gives to His faithful followers. Verse 21, notice the text. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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You're heaping up treasures in heaven. That's where your heart's going to be, longing to see Jesus in heaven one day.

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The eye is the lamp of the body. So then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

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If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

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You cannot serve God and wealth. Do you think

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Paul learned from Jesus when he wrote this in 1 Timothy 6? But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

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For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering with these, we shall be what?

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Content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.

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For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many a pang.

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But flee from these things, you man of God. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

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Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life, to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

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I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the proper time. He was blessed and only sovereign

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King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, with whom no man has seen or can see.

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To him be the honor and eternal dominion forever. Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.

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Instruct those rich people to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.

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Listen, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.

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The resurrection reminds me that if I keep everything now and I don't make eternal investments,

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I'm actually denying the resurrection. So, when it comes to Bethlehem Bible Church, so many of you are wonderful givers.

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And I commend you. For those of us that need to work on our giving,

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I don't want to try to harangue you. I will not do it. I'm not going to hand out barometers, church barometers.

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And you ever see those barometers? I will only say this.

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If you focus on who Jesus is eternally by his own words and think about grace, you think about regeneration, and you think about resurrection, it'll work out.

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Jesus said, no one can serve two masters. He'll either hate the one and love the other, or he'll hold on to the one and despise the other.

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You cannot serve God and mammon. I guess it's fun to quote this guy now.

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I could say many things about him, but I will quote Donald Trump. Ready? See, you were all sleeping.

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Now you're wide awake. What does that say for you? What does it say for me? U .S.

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News & World Report, January 9th, 1989. Whoever says money can't buy happiness doesn't know where to shop.

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For those of us that would like to have other ministry opportunities like people, the first test is with the money.

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And so in light of the grace of God in your life, in light of what Jesus has done for you, in light of the future that will happen one day, you want to give sacrificially.

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And it's between you and the Lord. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for the time in your Word. Father, I thank you that we're not under Old Testament law, but we, like your

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Son, grace incarnate, are underneath the grace principle. And Father, again, there's just something in me that wants to just move on from this subject.

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I don't really like to talk about it, but that's not right. We need to understand everything when it comes to parenting and marriage and ministry and how to be reconciled with one another, how to evangelize.

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What you talk about in your Word, we need to talk about. And so, Father, I pray that you would help the church, not because it helps the ministry.

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I pray for the church that she would be generous in her giving because you would be glorified through that.

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Father, I confess and rejoice with these dear people today. I know

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I've been here 18 years and you've always been faithful. When we've had a lot and when we've had a little, you've been faithful.

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And your Word is true, A, because it's true, and B, because we've seen it played out in life.

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You've proved yourself that you are faithful as we tested you for things.

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So give us wisdom when it comes to our money. Help us to give joyfully and to help us to give not to the church, not for the electrical bill or anything else, but unto you.

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And Father, we're thankful that you've rescued us from the slavery of money and possessions.

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And one day we'll think of ourselves back when we're in heaven, thinking to ourselves, you just gave us those things so we could buy and sell and do other things.

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now we see your Son face to face and it's been worth every sacrifice. In Jesus' name. Amen.